Drying machine



Sept. 21, 1948. R. c. PARKES v 2,449,667

DRYING MACHINE Filed March 14 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 37 Ill 'Z5 25 44x INVENTOR. L M RALPH C PARKES Patented Sept. 21 1943 UNITED PATENT OFFICE cheater DRYING MACHINE 'Riaiph OZ-Iarkes, Glensi'de,,Pa=. Appuammat 14, 19426; Seria1ND..654,37 6" My invention. elates to it drains: machine-fat the type in wh ch the m te ial l lo be ones: is

mevedthrough a chamber and subj c ed" to a stream of heated air,. or other ,fin-m ryinglmedi m; u in its pro ress throu h said ne obj ct or theg nvent cn is to erasu an improved drying machine oi the tyneset'forth- A further obje t is to pr d c mproved m ans fo e ulating the str but ono the dry n m ium t rough: th d ying c am rtoinsure rm d ying o t e at ri l. re ard ss o to nature t teri the moisture 1 3? t: thereof. the location of the material within "the" chamber, or its remoteness from. or its proximity to the source of. the drying medium Y i t A s i l .f 'ther o ject is p oduce m roved structur and assembly whereby the efilciency of the means for propelling the. drying. medi'nmthrough the machine is-in'creased'.

A stillinrther object is to produce an improved, arrangement of the drying medium-propelling e ns relati e'to t e materialjto be d ed whe e by the new ofthe dryingmedium to, andthrgngn, the drying chamber and ove the m terial to the dried is improved;

[ s ll" f rth obj ct s to produce proved .means for accomplisgljnng the" .mnejjgoin g objects with minimumalteration or; or interiorence with; the structure or thedryijngmM -ne' prop rand at minimum cost.

These and other obje'ctsqarei attained by my invention as set or h i the fol o i g s ecific tion and illustrated in: the accompanying drawings, in which:

:Fig. 1 is a vi w. p tlyin s de elevation partly in section, of a drying machine embodying my invention; v i

Fig. 2 is an elevational view I-ooldngin: the direction of line 22 on Fi ,1,,show hg; certain do Fig; 8' is a view; similar to Fig. '7, showing the same parts'in another position thereof.

In Fig; 1 of the drawings, there is shown a drying machine including a housing built of heat-insulated walls defining a chamber through which the material to be dried is propelled while being subjected to the action of a fluid drying medium, such as heated air;

As illustrated, the machine is provided with an endless sprocket chain H! which carries spaced polesH on which the sheet material to be dried is festooned in loops, the chain being carried and propelled by sprockets l'2,,at"1east one of which is driven by a source of power (not shown); It will be understood that, instead of poles H on which sheet material is festooned, the sprocket chains ay .G ly and pr pel trays or other receptacl'es containing other types {of materialto be ch-led; j

As will be seen from Figs. 1, 3 and 6, themachine illustrated is adapted to dry two separate pieces of sheet material I-3 and I4- which are fed into'the' machine by suitably arranged and propolled feed rolls Hi and Hi which are driven by a belt orthe like l1, operatively connected to a source of power, not shown. The pieces of sheet material are festooned' in loops on the poles 'II and, between them, they occupy substantially the entire width of the machine. The poles II are provided end gears I8 which engage racks 9 so that the poles rotate about their axes while moving between the feed and delivery ends of the machine. At the delivery end of the machine,. there provided a suitable driving and driven roll arrangement by means of which thedried pieces 13 and M aredelivered' to take up rolls 20. Since this driving mechanism may-be of any wellknownstructure, it isnot shown or describedin detail.

To amachi-ne such as that above described, it has been known to add adjustableshutters such asthose shown in Figs. 7 and 8, said shutters belng assembled in separate sets A and B, one disc Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary view, simian posed above the piece of material 13 and the other-above-the piece of material l4. Provision wasalsomadeto adjust said sets of shutters independently or one another so as to regulate the amount of 'heated airto 'be directed against either ofitheplecesl Stand M. As willbe best seen from Flgsl 7 and 8, the shutters referredto consist of fixed-,spaced slots '23 and movable slats 24, the latter lbeing carrled'by-an arm 25. This arrange ment :WhiQhliS' now well known. in the art is such that, the arm 25 is moved to: the left, asviewed in Fig. 6, the slats 24 are moved to the position In additionto the adjustable shutters, .it also" has been known to provide fixed spaced slats 26, Fig. 3, which form a perforated floor 21 below the material to be dried and provide exit passages for the air blown downwardly over the pieces o f fabric l3 and I4.

In order to minimize the force needed to adjust the bafiie and the shutters A, the weight of the battle, in relation to the weight of the movable slats of the shutters A, and the linkage connecting the bafiie to these slats are such that the parts are in substantial balance so that, in turning the handwheel 49, theoperator need exert only enough force to overcome the inertia and friction present.

The set of shutters B are, except for not being connected'to the bafiie,'identical with the shutters A and are adjusted by a mechanism such as that shown in Fig. 5, which includes a segment .441: carried by the arm and engaging a worm The heated air is blown over the materials to be dried by blowers 28, the discharge sides. of. which are connected by means of a' passage to an air-receiving space 3| above the material tote be dried, and the intake sides of which are connected by a passage 32 to a compartment 33 located below the false floor Zi'and enclosing heating coils 29. The flow of air irom' the compartment 3! into contact'with the material to be driediis.

regulated by the adjusting sets of shuttersA and In order better to control and regulate the flow of heat air over the material to be dried, I provide a bafiie 34 which is arranged for joint movement with the movable slats 24 of the setof shutters A; As will be seen from the drawings, the set of shutters A is adjacent the air inlettil while the set of shutters B is remote from the air inlet. The baffle 34 is pivoted at its base to a fixed support 35 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axis, in clockwise direction to the posi tion shown in solid lines, or tothe position shown in broken lines in Fig. 6. The baflle is so con; nected to the bar 25 carrying the movable slats 24 of the shutters Athat, when the baffle isin its solid line position, inFig. 6, the slats assume their vertical, nonobstructing positionof Fig. 7, and when the bafiieis moved to ortowardits broken line position the movable slats 24move-to, or towards, theirslanted, obstrnctingposition of Fig.8l a Specifically, the bathe-34 is provided with ait ab 31 which is pivotedto one end of an arm the other end of which is pivoted to a link 39 nounted on a shaft iii rotatably carried by the framework ofthe machine. The adjacent end of th'e arm. 2 5

which actuates the shutters A is pivoted to a link 4| which is also mounted on the shaft 40. By

this interlocking arrangement, when the bafile is.

rotated in clockwise direction, the arm 25, controlling the shutters A, is moved to the right, and;

the movable slats 24 of the shutters A are moved. to their vertical, non-obstructing position, Fig.4.

When the baffie is rotated in counterclockwisedi rection, the arm 25 is moved to theleft andthe movable slats 24 of the shutters A are movedto,

nature of a pulley or sprocket over which passes.

abelt or chain 48, whichalso engages a handwheel 49 accessible to an operator attending themachine. An index 50 cooperates With-a graduated .dial 5! to indicate the position to which the baflie is adjusted. i 4 a I I :1: on a shaft 463:. The shaft 46m, like the shaft .46, is provided with a sprocket or pulley 4110 over which passes a belt or a chain 48.7: which also en- "gages a lower handwheel, not shown, which corresponds to the wheel 49.

In order to facilitate operation of the shutters 1B, I provide a tension spring 54, one end of which is connected to the left-hand end of the bar 25- of the shutters Bandthe otherend .of which is mally in'balance.' Therefore, to adjust the. shut ters B, the operatorneedonly exert force we ficieiit to overcome the inertia and friction pres-l ent.

28 tends. to rush'into the distal portion of theairreceiving; space 3|, sothat' the distal piecejoi goods 14 tends to receive a greater supply, of air,

and will, other things being equal, dryat a-faster rate than the piece l3.. While the slanting roof 58 of the. air space 3l .helps to correcttliis situation and. may produce satisfactory results under certain conditions, I have found that under other conditions, it does not; For example, the moisfore, additional controlandlregulation .of theffiow of. air hasbeen foundtobe ,nec'essary'f- Tothis end, I have provided thebafli'e" 34-and. the means for moving the slats 24 of the set or shutters A down over the piece I3, while independently adjusting the set of shutters B, asmay be indicated. Thus ifitis desired 'to'increas'e the flow of air to thepiece of goods "l3, the baffleis moved-to, or towards, thev positionshown in solidlines in .Fig. 6.. This obstructs the fiow of air to the'portion of the air space 3| to the right or; the Ibafe...

fie, or the portion thereof above .thflpi'ece i4. By adjusting the shutters 3 toward; their closed position, the amount" of 'air reaching the piece I4 is further'decreasedand the a nount'reaching the piece l3 will be increased accordinglygThe reverse movement of these parts reverses the result.

The moisture in the pieces l3 and I4 tends-1 to gravitate towards the bottom portions 'o'f'the loops and, since the bottom portions ofthe'loops aref-urther removed from thes'ource of heated a'ir, it is found that the upper" and-lower-portions of the'se loops' do not dryuniformly. 'jTo'rer'nedy this "conditionf-I have positioned the heating media, such as steam coils' 29*directly' belowthe' :1 operation, the air delivered by the iblov'vers false-floor 21 so as to subject the lower portions of: the loops to radiant heat and. also to cornpensatefor the drop in the temperature oi: the airinthe region of the lower portions of the a r H a In; order to increase the efiiciency of the b low- GIS Z BQlhSJIG SDdQQG them from, the steamcoils. Asbest shown in Fig. 3, the blowergs 28 arelocated in a compartment 63, extendingI along thes drying chamber, and connected to the steam coii cham bet 3 by means of th enineifili h sre a e 'm nt he is d awn thrgue h a an a a relatively lower velocity than it would be if the steam coils were located immediately adjacent the intake side of the blowers, thus reducing the friction factor. Also, by this arrangement, the air called for by the blowers will be drawn from over the entire area of the heating coils instead of from a limited area thereof which would be the case if the heating coils were placed immediately adjacent the intake side of the fan. Furthermore, the spacing of the blowers from the heating coils causes the air to flow from the heating coil compartment 33 to the intake side of the fan without eddying.

It will also be noted that the propellers of the blowers 28 are Well spaced from the slanted roof 62 of the blower compartment 60 and the open-. ing 30 leading to the air-receiving chamber 3|. By this arrangement, the dynamic pressure of the air stream is changed to static pressure, thus eliminating eddying and turbulence of the air in the air-receiving space 3|.

It will thus be seen that, by my construction, the fiow of air over the pieces of sheet material l3 and Hi can be accuratel regulated uniformly to dry both pieces; that the lower portions of the loops are subjected to radiant heat so as to compensate for the drop in the temperature of the air to which these lower portions of the loops are subjected; that the efficiency of the blowers is increased; and that flow of air from the discharge side of the blowers to the air-receiving space above the material to be dried is also improved.

The blowers 28 are mounted on vertical shafts disposed in the compartment 60 and the motors thereof are shielded from the hot air by suitable means 64. This disposition of the blowers is advantageous in that the air inlet 33 leading to the air receiving compartment :3! and the outlet 32 leading from the heating compartment 33 are both wholly unobstructed and the blades of the blowers are sufiiciently remote from said inlet and outlet so as to improve the efiiciency of the blowers as above set forth.

The lower heating compartment 33 is substantially coextensive with the underside of the drying chamber thus affording ample space for adequate dispersal of the heating coils so as to permit the air called for by the blowers to come into contact with the entire surface of the heating coils at a relatively low velocity. This inthe blowers and the material to be dried; as shown, the screen is placed between the falsefloor Hand-[the heating coils 29 seas to catch and retain lir'it and other-dirt which may be carried L by th airstream.

In order to facilitate cleaning, the screen 66 is made flexible and is of a length slightly more than double the ler gthof the drying chamber,

, drying chamber, thus: leaving the other portion creases the heat exchange between the coils and I the air. Also the ample space in the compartment 33 provides the desired volume of air and since this air moves at a relatively low speed its of the screen stretched under the drying chamber. After the machine has been in operation for some time, the roller 63 is turned in a direction to wind the screen thereon, and as the screen emerges from the drying chamber, or the heating compartment, it is subjected to the action of manual or automatic, mechanical or pneumatic cleansing means such as a brush or a suction cleaner. As the screen winds on the roller 68, the clean section thereof which was wound on the roller 61 is stretched under the drying chamber and the section thereof previously under the drying chamber is cleaned and wound on the roller 61 for future use.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a drying machine including a structure defining a drying chamber adapted to receive two separate materials to be dried simultaneously, a wall structure defining a compartment having an inlet for admitting a fluid-drying medium, there being a first set of passages leading from said compartment to said chamber for directing a portion of said drying medium towards one of said materials, and a second set of passages for directing another portion of said drying medium towards the other of said materials, and means for delivering a fluid-drying medium under pressure to said compartment, there being exhaust openings leading from said chamber, of control means for regulating the flow of said drying medium to said material, said control means including a first set of shutters for obstructing or non-obstructing said first set of passages, a bafile connected to, and movable jointly with said first set of shutters, means for jointly actuating said first set of shutters and said baffle, said bafiie being so arranged that when said first set of shutters are moved towards their non-obstructing position said baffle moves towards a position in which it partly obstructs the flow of said fluid-drying medium from said inlet to said second set of passages and vice versa, and means for actuating said second set of shutters towards their 0bstructing or non-obstructing positions independently of said first set of shutters and said baffie.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said first set of passages is adjacent the inlet end of said compartment and said second set of passages is remote from said inlet.

3. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said bailie is so related and connected to said first set of shutters that said bafiie and said shutters substantially counterbalance each other in any position to which they are adjusted.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said battle is located intermediate said first and second sets of shutters and said battle and said v shutters are pivoted for rotation about parallel m e v v bat-e h horizontal axes. r 5. The structure recited in claim 1 together ,iffii'gg 1. $22, 35 J cf g with means for counterbalancing at least a ma- Winsea 1930 .101 portiOn of the of s i Set f 5 u y Feb shutters. 1 v *"r" 1,942,828 Parkes Jan. 9, 1931 RALPH PARKES' I 1',965,229' Galson -1- July 3,1934 E E CITE 1,978,341" Co1emgn- Oct. 23, 1934 REFER NC S 1,995,675 Furbus h Mar. 26, '1935 The following references are of record in the z,1o4,1 5 oran-1; Jan.'4,- 193a file of this patent: 2,297,318 Parke i's L Sept. 29, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENTS f 2 3 iffl "P &

Number Name Date 1,212,450 Bannell Jan. 16, 1917 15 1,361,626 Schwartz et a1. Dec. 7,1920 

